Awesome! Looks like I'll be purchasing it tomorrow, thanks!

As much as I love the MD-11, I need to state that besides of the small bugs that only some experts may discover, the MCDU at times can crash FSX. There are a few "serious" bugs in it (serious because I don't consider an FSX crash a minor issue) in terms of flightplan sequencing. These are reproducable, and I hope some day the developers will kill them. Apart from that, the MD-11 is a masterpiece. You can buy it blindfold and you won't regret it - provided you're willing to learn a lot.

The warning in the manual means to not use anything that uses the default FS loading system - using TOPCAT to load the MD-11 or 747 (and soon NGX) is perfectly fine, it loads the fuel/payload correctly.

I have a question. I too use TOPCAT via the Export to FS option. Generally everything is fine, but sometimes TOPCAT calculates MAC values that are different to what the MCDU/FMS suggests. The issue seems to get worse when I add fuel through the FMS refueling feature. I had flights where my MACTOW was off by 3.0% and I took off with a CG DISAGREE advisory on the EAD. I suspect that the CG issue is caused by altering the number of seats in the aircraft profile. For example I selected the PMDG mixed class configuration, but changed the number of seats to KLM's current MD11 configuration for my PH-KCB. The difference in CG does not seem to interfere with the performance of the aircraft. Take-offs speeds are very close to TOPCAT estimates and fuel burn isn't affected. What are the correct settings to get rid of this CG difference?

As much as I love the MD-11, I need to state that besides of the small bugs that only some experts may discover, the MCDU at times can crash FSX. There are a few "serious" bugs in it (serious because I don't consider an FSX crash a minor issue) in terms of flightplan sequencing. These are reproducable, and I hope some day the developers will kill them.

Hi Andreas,if it is reproducable, pls share it.In my posting above i said the aircraft is "rockstable". But i always do a distinction between normal FS user operation and my "freestyle" mode if i am bored.;-)If i want to crash the MD-11 it helps to import a corrupt flightplan (FSbuild issued them, while getting ready for Navigraph AIRACS, "virtual dispatch" sometime has a bad day, too, and some AIRACS themselve are corrupt)=> This will end in an pmdg_gauge.dll error (normally during fill out the INIT page), which kills FSX, tooStart "unprepared" without FP and build a FP later enroute can also kill the PMDG gauge.dll Sometimes, if you try to paste the route to an enroute alternate in your primary FP you will earn a crash.And trying to change the alternate Airport on INIT Page can be risky, too (better flying it raw data and prevent modifying your FP, if you have to approach an alternate)If there are ways to crash the MD-11 in "normal" usage, i am especially interested in, cause i want to know, why this never happened to me. (1700h (W7 64beta and W7 64 RTM) flying the MD-11 as i should and one crash, non PMDG related (it was the automatism of JAVA update which killed the FSX enroute) regards

I have a question. I too use TOPCAT via the Export to FS option. Generally everything is fine, but sometimes TOPCAT calculates MAC values that are different to what the MCDU/FMS suggests. The issue seems to get worse when I add fuel through the FMS refueling feature. I had flights where my MACTOW was off by 3.0% and I took off with a CG DISAGREE advisory on the EAD. I suspect that the CG issue is caused by altering the number of seats in the aircraft profile. For example I selected the PMDG mixed class configuration, but changed the number of seats to KLM's current MD11 configuration for my PH-KCB. The difference in CG does not seem to interfere with the performance of the aircraft. Take-offs speeds are very close to TOPCAT estimates and fuel burn isn't affected. What are the correct settings to get rid of this CG difference?

I experienced this situation two times in my MD-11 use. Both when using FedEx freighter load on long routes (EGSS-KMEM and return). I don't think it's a passenger version only problem, is something on the calculation of the CG%.More the MD-11 is loaded, more the differences in CG are visible by the raw data from PMDG load manager and the TOPCAT values. For me, that's the problem. In fact, if i prepare a short/medium flight the CG% values from the two programs are very close.I have the feeling that the fuel balance is considered slightly different by PMDG and TOPCAT, and that's the problem why more fuel you load on plane and more CG% start to be far one to each other.Cheers,

The warning in the manual means to not use anything that uses the default FS loading system - using TOPCAT to load the MD-11 or 747 (and soon NGX) is perfectly fine, it loads the fuel/payload correctly.

Good to know! That could make life so much easier.

Hi Andreas,if it is reproducable, pls share it.In my posting above i said the aircraft is "rockstable". But i always do a distinction between normal FS user operation and my "freestyle" mode if i am bored.;-)If i want to crash the MD-11 it helps to import a corrupt flightplan (FSbuild issued them, while getting ready for Navigraph AIRACS, "virtual dispatch" sometime has a bad day, too, and some AIRACS themselve are corrupt)=> This will end in an pmdg_gauge.dll error (normally during fill out the INIT page), which kills FSX, tooStart "unprepared" without FP and build a FP later enroute can also kill the PMDG gauge.dll Sometimes, if you try to paste the route to an enroute alternate in your primary FP you will earn a crash.And trying to change the alternate Airport on INIT Page can be risky, too (better flying it raw data and prevent modifying your FP, if you have to approach an alternate)If there are ways to crash the MD-11 in "normal" usage, i am especially interested in, cause i want to know, why this never happened to me. (1700h (W7 64beta and W7 64 RTM) flying the MD-11 as i should and one crash, non PMDG related (it was the automatism of JAVA update which killed the FSX enroute) regards

I didn't post my findings because I need to collect the required facts first.In "normal use", and if you do things as they're described in the tutorials, I agree that the chances for a crash are almost zero.But if you start to do "the unusual", chances for a crash rise. I suspect the MCDU code to contain bugs in waypoint sequencing that lead to reproducable crashes. I can set up at least two simple, very different scenarios where the MCDU crashes FSX 100%. But as said, I need to collect all necessary files and descriptions before I share them. Since an MD-11 patch is in far future (if at all), there's no hurry, because nobody of us users can change the current status at the time being. So, I try to avoid and live with the bugs. And, I'm pretty much 100% sure that it's no other add-on interfering with the MD-11 code and causing the crashes.Saying the MD-11 is rock stable is simply not true. It is stable, agreed. But it has its problems and there's a slight chance that somewhere on your route, FSX crashes because one of them.Besides of that, MD-11 is something you can buy blindfold, as I said before. It's one of the best add-ons ever made for any FS version.